5 ms·

Every time I tell people I don't watch TV, they immediately ask me what I do, as if watching TV is the only thing to do.

nine_zeros 6y ago
I used to be the guy not watching tv everyday. And then I got married Kidding. TV, especially good quality production, has been a great way for me to tune out of politics and the toxic environment of life in America. It's sad but for anyone just looking to get past the nightmare TV is a real boon.
- fastball 6y ago
  Have you tried cutting out the news in general? Helped me a lot. I just read Wikipedia's current events[1] section once a week or so. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events
  - nine_zeros 6y ago
    Cutting out news is hard when the administration actively pushes policies that affect me and people close to me on a weekly basis. With the current government, I might lose loved ones to covid, deportation, violence, healthcare disaster, job loss, mental problems, drug abuse, gun shooting or just plain ol suicide. Choose your poison cuz this otherwise this government will choose one for you.
    - fastball 6y ago
      Statistically not though. That's just the news making you feel that way. The US has one of the lowest case fatality rates in the world for COVID-19[1]. As far as I'm aware, none of those other things you mention have increased dramatically under the current admin, except as they relate to COVID and lockdowns, which the entire world is unfortunately experiencing, not just the USA. It is certainly strange to pin coronavirus side-effects on the POTUS when you look at how the rest of the world is faring. The US also remains one of the least likely countries on earth where you will lose a loved one to a healthcare disaster (even before the ACA) – quality of care in America is one of the highest in the world. [1] http://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-visualization/ http://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-visualization/
      - jjeaff 6y ago
        Case fatality rate is the one metric that has almost nothing to do with leadership. America is fairing well in that metric because we have good doctors and good technology and good facilities. All the other metrics, infection rates, testing, contact tracing, reflect partially on the administration. And we are not fairing well, comparatively on any of those metrics.
        fastball 6y ago
        The US is a federation of states, and generally internal matters (like stopping the spread of a virus in your state) are not the purview of the executive branch. It's hard to blame the president when it is not equally bad across the board, for example if you have some cities like NYC which manage to contribute 10% of all COVID deaths in the US so far. When it comes to things that typically are the purview of the executive branch, I think I remember the US being the first country in the G20 to restrict travel from China, among other things, and then the POTUS was called xenophobic by various people for pointing the finger where it deserved to be pointed (China, who was the very first to downplay the virus and pretend everything was hunky dory while it really wasn't). I'm not a fan of Trump, but if you are placing the blame for coronavirus on him you are more than a little misguided. In all honesty, watching Democrats use people who died of COVID as political props by trying to pin their deaths on Trump is one of the shittiest things I've seen this year, and it's been a crap year.
        triceratops 6y ago
        > The US is a federation of states, and generally internal matters (like stopping the spread of a virus in your state) are not the purview of the executive branch. These states aren't islands though - they mostly share land borders, freeways connect them, and people freely travel between them every day. The virus doesn't know state borders. If the federal government can insert itself into random state affairs by citing the interstate commerce clause, I don't see how it can wash its hands of responsibility for this debacle.
        jjeaff 6y ago

nine_zeros 6y ago

I used to be the guy not watching tv everyday. And then I got married Kidding. TV, especially good quality production, has been a great way for me to tune out of politics and the toxic environment of life in America. It's sad but for anyone just looking to get past the nightmare TV is a real boon.

fastball 6y ago
Have you tried cutting out the news in general? Helped me a lot. I just read Wikipedia's current events[1] section once a week or so. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events
- nine_zeros 6y ago
  Cutting out news is hard when the administration actively pushes policies that affect me and people close to me on a weekly basis. With the current government, I might lose loved ones to covid, deportation, violence, healthcare disaster, job loss, mental problems, drug abuse, gun shooting or just plain ol suicide. Choose your poison cuz this otherwise this government will choose one for you.
  - fastball 6y ago
    Statistically not though. That's just the news making you feel that way. The US has one of the lowest case fatality rates in the world for COVID-19[1]. As far as I'm aware, none of those other things you mention have increased dramatically under the current admin, except as they relate to COVID and lockdowns, which the entire world is unfortunately experiencing, not just the USA. It is certainly strange to pin coronavirus side-effects on the POTUS when you look at how the rest of the world is faring. The US also remains one of the least likely countries on earth where you will lose a loved one to a healthcare disaster (even before the ACA) – quality of care in America is one of the highest in the world. [1] http://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-visualization/ http://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-visualization/
    - jjeaff 6y ago
      Case fatality rate is the one metric that has almost nothing to do with leadership. America is fairing well in that metric because we have good doctors and good technology and good facilities. All the other metrics, infection rates, testing, contact tracing, reflect partially on the administration. And we are not fairing well, comparatively on any of those metrics.
      - fastball 6y ago
        The US is a federation of states, and generally internal matters (like stopping the spread of a virus in your state) are not the purview of the executive branch. It's hard to blame the president when it is not equally bad across the board, for example if you have some cities like NYC which manage to contribute 10% of all COVID deaths in the US so far. When it comes to things that typically are the purview of the executive branch, I think I remember the US being the first country in the G20 to restrict travel from China, among other things, and then the POTUS was called xenophobic by various people for pointing the finger where it deserved to be pointed (China, who was the very first to downplay the virus and pretend everything was hunky dory while it really wasn't). I'm not a fan of Trump, but if you are placing the blame for coronavirus on him you are more than a little misguided. In all honesty, watching Democrats use people who died of COVID as political props by trying to pin their deaths on Trump is one of the shittiest things I've seen this year, and it's been a crap year.
        triceratops 6y ago
        > The US is a federation of states, and generally internal matters (like stopping the spread of a virus in your state) are not the purview of the executive branch. These states aren't islands though - they mostly share land borders, freeways connect them, and people freely travel between them every day. The virus doesn't know state borders. If the federal government can insert itself into random state affairs by citing the interstate commerce clause, I don't see how it can wash its hands of responsibility for this debacle.
        jjeaff 6y ago